Seasons of Sinnoh
by ashofthechampions
Summary: Sinnoh, the hometown of a soon-to-be Top Coordinator, is filled with rivals of all sorts, Pokemon hunters, reality-warping Pokemon, and evil organizations seeking to recreate the world in their own image. Her only defense against it all is a young boy only a few years older than she is. No need to worry, right?


Before I start, I'll list the reasons how it's different from the Diamond & Pearl Anime:

Brock, Zoey, Tobias, Team Rocket, and a few other people from the actual Sinnoh anime won't appear. Paul appears, but not as a rival, and is slightly different from canon. Also, Ash's character will be written more like how it was in the Original and Advanced seasons, with his battle skill from DP.  
>The characters aren't forever ten.<br>The script writing doesn't suck (hopefully).  
>Team Galactic will have a bigger role, though they won't be the main focus.<br>Dawn won't be a DID, and she won't have a bike.  
>Inspired by Pokemon: Heart Soul Adventures by Lily Nadesico.<br>No episodes devoted to learning new moves/appeals.

* * *

><p>Chapter 1: Standing Paul!<p>

"Sometimes it's hard to know which way you're supposed to go, but deep inside, you know you're strong. If you follow your heart, you can't be wrong."

For as long as she could remember, her mother had beat her famous mantra into her head. She got tired of hearing all of the time, but she knew it was the truth. Otherwise, how could she live up to her mother's legacy as a Top Coordinator?

"Have you decided which of the starters you'll choose?" the booming voice of Professor Rowan asked.

"Of course!" Dawn answered. She had already known her starter before she even stepped foot in his lab. "Piplup!" she exclaimed, referring to the proud blue penguin.

"Very well, then," the old man said, giving her its Poke Ball, as well as a pink flip device with a touch screen on the bottom. Piplup stood completely still as it was scanned with the device. A soft feminine voice emitted from the speakers.

"Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon. Piplup's limited walking skills often cause it to fall down." As if on cue, the Water-type toppled over, but quickly got back up. "But that never hurts its pride."

"Pip. LUP!" It yelled at Dawn.

Professor Rowan couldn't help but laugh as the two headed out of the lab, Piplup lagging behind her and tripping every couple of steps due to its inability to walk long distances.

* * *

><p>On a ship to a faraway region known as Sinnoh, a Pallet Town native by the name of Ash Ketchum pondered a few things, most notably how he lost to Gary. Sure, his Electivire was a Pokemon he'd never seen before and it had an ability that turned any opposing electric attacks into an advantage, but he still didn't think he should have went down that easily. He couldn't have been rusty, as the gap between his battle with Brandon and his battle with Gary hasn't been that long.<p>

"Pika?" his starter Pokemon asked from his shoulder.

"I'm okay," Ash answered, though he didn't look it. He had made one too many mistakes in his battle with Gary, which cost him the match. He beat the Battle Frontier, and was even offered a position as a Frontier Brain, which he put on hold for the time being. He was at an all time high! Nothing could stop him... except Gary, apparently.

That's when it hit him; he had gotten too cocky after having just taken on the Battle Frontier. He trained enough, but he rarely had pre-planned strategies. Sometimes this had worked in his favor, other times it hadn't.

He looked out the window, and was treated with the sight of endless sea, as expected on a long ship ride. A few Wingull broke the monotony of the scene, alongside a few Pokemon he had never seen before. He broke out of his thoughts when he saw a large blue sea creature swimming near the ship. It had a cream underside, a horn on its head, and a large shell on its back.

_Lapras..._ he thought, as he opened his window. "LAPRAS!" Without giving it a chance to react, he jumped onto its back. Pikachu had almost fallen from his shoulder, but he caught it just in time. "Gotcha, buddy!"

For whatever reason, Lapras picked up the speed, just barely beating the ship to the area of land that it had docked near. Ash and Pikachu got off of the Transport Pokemon, and then turned to it.

"Lapras, I can't tell you how great it is to see you again!" Ash told it. "But where's everyone else?" He was referring to the rest of the herd that it had left with.

Its head hung down. It didn't make a sound. Ash understood that he shouldn't have brought it up, though he didn't know why it got so sad all of a sudden.

"Would you like to come back to the group?" Ash asked, carefully choosing his words.

Lapras's answer was a beam of ice to his face. Despite the sheer temperature drop, he laughed it off. "I'll take that as a yes!" He took a Poke Ball out of his backpack and slowly placed it on its horn. The Pokemon got sucked into the ball. It dropped on the ground and shook a few times before stopping to signify a successful capture.

"Yes! We brought back... Lapras!" Ash yelled, doing his victory pose.

"Pi, Pikachu!"

Ash's face lit up into a huge smile, as if a brilliant idea came to him. As Pikachu would later find out, that couldn't be closer to the truth! "Pikachu, what do you say to bringing back a couple of our old pals? I can call Liza to bring back Charizard, and Officer Jenny to bring back Squirtle! Maybe I can even get Charizard to fly Primeape in Sandgem Town's Pokemon Center!"

Luckily, he had a map of Sinnoh, so while he wasn't exactly the best at map reading, he at least wasn't going in completely blind.

Pikachu seemed to like the idea a lot. He had missed seeing Ash's older Pokemon regularly.

"Alright, Pikachu, let's hit the road!"

* * *

><p>"According to this Poketch, we're almost at Sandgem. Piplup, this is so exciting!" It was pretty hard to start a conversation with a being that could only say variations of its own name, especially when said being was as unwilling and prideful as Piplup. She looked at her Poketch, which her mother had gotten her for her eighth birthday. The other kids of Twinleaf Town had been jealous, none more so than Barry, who threatened to fine the Lucinda family. "We can stop and eat."<p>

Piplup ignored her and continued its walk. "Or we can wait." She hoped Piplup didn't hear her stomach growl. She had scanned a couple of Pokemon, but wasn't particularly interested in them. She saw her starter Pokemon take a sharp right.

"Wait, Piplup, Sandgem's straight ahead!" she protested, but her gaze fell on a nearby egg that Piplup was poking. On it were oddly shaped patterns that were red and blue in color. "Who'd leave an egg in the forest?"

Stubby arms and feet as well as a spiky head protruded out of the egg, startling the two of them. "Whoa! What's that?" She got ready to scan it, when a burst of flames came out of nowhere and washed over both of the Pokemon. Piplup wasn't too hurt, being resistant to fire attacks, but the same couldn't be said for the Pokemon.

"Piplup, return!" she cried, recalling it to its Poke Ball. She then picked up the egg-shaped Pokemon and made a beeline for Sandgem Town.

She didn't get far before a wave of electricity barely grazed past her. Another came, this time striking her. She couldn't move her limbs as two other Pokemon she hadn't seen before flanked her at the sides. One was a yellow oval-shaped Pokemon with ears that looked more like the prongs of a plug. It had a black lightning bolt on the center of its body, as well as stripes around the symbol and also around its wrists. The other was a red, bipedal Pokemon with a flame-shaped marking on its abdomen, lumps all around its head, and a collar around its neck.

_Is this really how I'm going to die? It's only my first day, and I failed everyone..._ Dawn thought.

"Magby, **Smog**!" a deep voice commanded from behind her. She could only watch as a large cloud of thick smog was released from the red Pokemon's mouth. Dawn closed her eyes and braced herself for something that never came. A glowing green, transparent cylinder formed around her, protecting her from the smog. The Pokemon next to her grabbed her leg, letting a clear aura form over her. Feeling slowly began to return to her, until she could fully move her body again. She got up as the protective shield from earlier disappeared.

Again, she ran towards Sandgem City, but her path was blocked, this time by a teenage purple-haired guy with an angry scowl on his face and even meaner-looking eyes. His only articles of clothing that wasn't a shade of his hair color were his jacket sleeves and undershirt. She trued to move past him, but he wasn't having that.

"Where do you think you're going?" he sneered, as the two Pokemon took his side. "Drop that Togepi and run back home, and I'll let you go."

For a split second, Dawn considered taking his orders, but then she remembered what had happened to it earlier.

"No. Piplup, spotlight!" Her Piplup emerged from the Poke Ball. Dawn was glad she had checked its moves. "Piplup, I know we're not on the best of terms, but we need to protect Togepi."

It honked, defiantly staring down its obstacles. "**Bubblebeam**!"

"Elekid, **Protect**!" the boy shouted, as his Elekid rushed in front of its partner, a green spherical shield causing the bubbles to pop upon contact. "Now, **Shock Wave**!"

Its arms rotated as electricity formed between its ears, and then zapped Piplup. Despite taking a point blank attack, it refused to fall. Elekid repeated the attack, but Dawn was ready for it this time.

"**Bide**!"

Its body glowed white as the second electric attack shocked it. Magby unleashed a stream of flames mixed in with black smoke. Dawn could only pray that Piplup could withstand them all, but miraculously, it did. The white glow on its body then converted into a large beam, which struck all three of them and sent them crashing. Piplup, of course, wasn't completely unharmed, burn and shock marks covering its hide.

Not for the first time, Dawn recalled Piplup and ran to her next town, continuing what would soon be the adventure of her life.

* * *

><p>Important Notes: I decided to use a different last name than "Berlitz", which is overused, and also to distance her from her manga counterpart.<p> 


End file.
